Nardi Contreras, Just Worked - 26

Whether his stay in that job would be lengthy or brief, the only thing he could control was his own performance, Contreras told The Daily News.

"I can't worry about that," Contreras told The Daily News. "I don't have a big name. I just work. We'll go from there."

Contreras
didn't serve as the Yankees pitching coach beyond that season, but he
did continue being a major league pitching coach. Contreras went on to
serve as pitching coach for the Mariners and the White Sox. More
recently, he's been a pitching instructor.

Contreras became a coach after a long playing career, one that also took him to the majors. His stay as a player, though, was brief.

Contreras' playing career began in 1969, taken by the Reds in the 12th round of the draft out of Catholic High School in Tampa, Fl.

Contreras started at short-season Sioux Falls. He made AA Victoria
with the Mets in 1974, then AAA Tidewater in 1975. He then stayed
largely at AAA into 1980, when he got his call to the majors with the
White Sox.

Contreras soon became a pitching coach
in the minors. He served in the White Sox and Braves organizations,
then with the Expos. He served three seasons with the Expos as pitching
coach at AA Jacksonville.

By 1995, he was back in the majors, as pitching coach with the Yankees. He moved to the Mariners by 1997, taking pitching coach duties there.

In
May 1997, Contreras worked with Dennis Martinez, trying to snap him out
of a rough patch. In one outing that month, Contreras didn't make it
out of the second inning while giving up seven runs.

"He doesn't have the stuff he used to have, so he needs to have better location and he's not getting it," Contreras told The Associated Press. "That's it in a nutshell."

"He was magnificent," Contreras told The Wilkes Barre Times Leader after a strong Kennedy start at AAA in May 2008. "He pitched great. He kept his
fastball inside, which opened the outside of the plate. That enabled him
to throw his changeup and fastball any time he wanted.